In order to cope with climate change and industry, Tsay Keh Dene Nation, in collaboration with a University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Masters student, created a unique planning tool to help identify priority areas for conservation.
Tsay Keh Dene means “people of the rocks” and their territory encompasses the Rocky Mountain Trench northwest of the Peace River.
The project combines Tsay Keh Dene traditional ecological knowledge and western science to identify climate-resilient landscapes and priority areas for conservation in its territory.
Through his project titled “Systematic Conservation Planning in Tsay Keh Dene Territory”, UNBC Masters student Christopher Morgan created a map-based software tool that assesses the landscape and identifies which places hold the greatest conservation values.
To do this Morgan mapped a number of important landscape features.
He mapped grizzly bear habitat, forest patterns and biodiversity, wildlife’s ability to move between habitats and what is known as biotic refugia - locations that are resistant to climate change.
The tool then identifies which areas on the landscape have a number of these features overlapping and areas where it is quite rare to find certain features.
Traditional ecological knowledge of the Tsay Keh Dene was also interwoven throughout the project with the help of the Nation’s wholly owned environmental consulting firm Chu Cho Environmental, and the Nation’s lands, resources and treaty office.
“We do have some special data incorporated into the tool that is sourced from Elders in the community but traditional ecological knowledge can also be the imprinting of the nation’s values at each step of the process and that is what we tried to do,” said Morgan.
Through a collaborative decision-making process Morgan blended this traditional knowledge with western science datasets on wildlife habitat and key ecosystems.
He incorporated three cultural layers of data in the planning tool which highlight areas important to Tsay Keh Dene for their spiritual and subsistence value.
“Being able to take aspects of both ways of knowing and blending them into essentially something new I think inherently has a lot of value and empowers the Knowledge Holders of the Nation but it also is done in a western science based framework that hopefully government gives credence to also,” said Morgan.
The project first began when Morgan’s supervisor Dr. Pam Wright was approached by Chu Cho Environmental wildlife biologist Erica Bonderud after she saw a presentation conservation planning in the peace.
As Tsay Kay Dene Nation wanted a more holistic way to identify priority areas for conservation in their territory, Bonderud says collaboration was sparked from there.
“One thing that is novel about this is that the Nation approached the academic partners at UNBC about doing the project whereas in the past a lot of times it would be maybe the opposite way around,” said Bonderud.
She said the tool is helpful visualization of what conservation on the landscape could look like and useful in planning research projects on behalf of the Nation.
“It can definitely help us pin point study areas for things like that as well as down the road doing more conservation area design.”
The tool, which lives on the Nation’s computer networks, is also “living” in the sense that it can be updated and allows the user to experiment with different scenario planning based on priorities.
“It’s not another report that is going to sit on the shelf it’s something we can actually use to make decisions,” said Bonderud.
Evan Mackinnon, Manager for Lands, Resources, and Treaty Operations says Morgan’s technology is another tool in the Nation’s toolkit.
He said what attracted the Nation to the project was the fact that they were essentially getting an exclusive turn-key product developed in association with the Nation’s interests.
“Part of my job is to actually work with the community to find these high areas of concern and create mitigations for them in the presence of industrial development and climate change,” said MacKinnon, adding that Morgan’s tool helps the nation identify those areas and trigger that conversation and further work.
“The systematic conservation approach tool is one that aligns with our interests in blending the best available western science with traditional knowledge which is something we know has the most gravity in negotiating,” he added.
“I just can’t help but think if we had a tool like this and a perspective like this 20 years earlier how different the territory would look.”
Mackinnon noted there are a lot of high-level processes that happen jointly with the province, with Canada and with industry partners, but the tool helps contribute to steer the interests around resources extraction.
However, one of the limitations Morgan encountered when conducting his research was COVID-19.
As Tsey Keh Dene’s community site is extremely remote, Morgan wasn’t able to visit the territory and had to connect with key figures such as Elders and community members over Zoom.
“I think developing those relationships has inherent value but [being there] also would have grounded this work for me physically being in the landscape, talking to the people and understanding their mindset a bit better, potentially,” said Morgan.
MacKinnon said that despite the challenges Tsay Keh Dene leadership was impressed and pleased to work with Morgan on the project.
“He had a series in our monthly newsletter that goes up to community,” explained MacKinnon, adding that Morgan took out a page each month and used infographics to explain his research.
MacKinnon said by making engaging content in the newsletter Morgan’s name is now commonplace in the community
“You know, ‘I know Chris, he is the guy working to save moose in this area’ so that is amazing. It is so rare you are able to do that,” added MacKinnon.
Despite not being able to physically interact with the people and the landscape Morgan said he believes there’s a lot of value in the research.
In the short term, he thinks the planning tool will help the Nation place resource extraction referrals into the larger landscape puzzle and in the long term, help identify new areas for conservation efforts.
But Tsay Keh Dene will be able to configure the tool to meet whatever their ongoing needs are in the future.
“Every time I am thinking of a new project I think how can I use Chris’ tool in this and every one has a way to do it,” added Bonderud
